Still Breathing
by cheesylamp
Summary: Gladys got a new job at Aperture. She thinks that her job will be great, but can she even survive? HumanGLaDOS and HumanWheatley. Rated T because I'm more paranoid that the average human being should be.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any characters written in this story or portal. That is all.

It was the best day of her life. Or so she thought. Gladys' application to work at Aperture was finally accepted, and her first day started in two minutes. Although it was very exciting to her, she still had an awful churning feeling in her stomach, obviously signifying nervousness. Was she going to be accepted? After all Gladys was a woman, and was positive she was going to be shot down as a lower rank, just because of her gender.

Gladys had short white hair. She'd been born with white hair, but no one usually believed her. At first, she kept her hair because she thought it was unique, but now she keeps it as a sense of pride, as if to signify 'I am who I am, and no one is able to change that'.

If there was anything in the world that she cared about, it was science, and that was enough for Gladys to be eager enough to walk right into Aperture with her head held high. After all, she was smart enough to get this job, so the others _had_ to treat her equally, right?

As Gladys walked into the entrance, she received sideways glances and quick, unsure looks from the others. She was quickly losing confidence, and was really worried that she'd done something wrong. A very short, skinny man walked up to her, looking almost amused.

"Miss, do you have the wrong place?" he said, clearly getting a kick out of what he thought was a silly mistaken woman.

"No, this is Aperture, correct?" she replied.

"Yeah, but what are you here for? Are you the new cleaning lady?"

"No, sir, today's my first day of work here. Can you please direct me to.. uh.." She said while digging for the directions to her office. The room filled with barely contained snickers. Why were they so amused by her? "Right here." Gladys said, pointing to the room on her map that she was told was hers.

"I think you have it wrong. You couldn't possibly be working on that project. Here, this is the secretary area."

"_No_, sir," Gladys said, irritation showing in her voice, "I'm a _scientist_, not a secretary. Please show me how to get to room 427."

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to alert the boss about this. His office is right down the hallway, let me help you there."

"Thank you," Gladys said, her voice dripping with malice, "for helping me find Mr. Johnson's office. Let's go, you and me together, _Greg_." she said, looking at his name tag. Gladys was generally a very sweet person, but when she wanted to, she could sound terrifying, which was clearly working on him. Her golden brown eyes bored into his, until she swiftly turned on her heel, and walked to Mr. Johnson's office.

She opened the door, and found Mr. Johnson and a woman having some sort of strange conversation, if you could even call it that. It was mostly just the woman listening to him ranting, and nodding thoughtfully. They both immediately looked up at her, as Greg quickly stumbled inside after her.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt you. This woman claimed that she was a scientist." he said, clearly stressed by Gladys walking into here, claiming things his poor brain couldn't grasp "I tried to tell here that there was a mistake and that she couldn't possibly be working on the project that she pointed out to me, and so I figured she was confused. So I escorted her here to make sure she knew her place." Greg finished, making sure the last sentence sounded threatening.

"Well Greg, first of all, it looks likes she escorted you," Cave said, clearly embarrassing Greg. "and second of all, she is not a secretary. In fact, she's probably got twice as many IQ as you've gotten brain cells, then times 8." he continued, but Gladys had blocked him out. She was looking at the woman, who was looking back at her sweetly. Come to think of it, she was probably the only female she'd seen so far. The woman waved at her, which Gladys returned shyly.

"So get your lazy butt out there, and do some science!" Cave finished, looking proud of himself. He was naturally a man who anyone would listen to. He could even convince somebody to their death, and make them think they were a hero for doing so. This obviously worked on Greg, who quickly scrambled out of the office. He then continued his conversation/rant to the woman.

"Uh, sir, the girl?" The woman said, gesturing towards Gladys.

"Oh! Right! So little lady, you want to be leading woman, you want to make a change, is that right? Well you've come to the right place! You get to make a real contribution to science, and you can finally lead all the other women to come running to all these great jobs! I can't wait to see the rest of humanity get off of their lazy, bedridden-"

"Mr. Johnson."

"Ah, yes, this is Caroline, and she's gonna help you find your place in here, help you be comfortable. Alright Caroline, help away!" He finished, then returning to what Gladys assumed was his work.

"Alright, let's get going!" Caroline said, with an attitude that seemed to have been put on to make Gladys feel as if the next few days were going to be great, but she had a feeling that, after the event when she first walked in, that she wasn't going to be easily accepted.

"Are we.. are we really the only women here?" Gladys said, with uncertainty in her voice.

"No, some are secretaries, such as myself, but you could say I'm a higher rank." Caroline replied in that same cheerful tone. She then switched to a more relaxed tone. "To be honest, I got the job because I thought that maybe I could work on a few projects, be a true scientist, but that didn't work out so well, so I became Cave's secretary." Gladys was taken aback by how much Caroline was telling her, but decided not to interrupt. "But now you're here, and I believe you're going to be the first female scientist! How exciting!" She finished with fake enthusiasm.

"OK, that sounds great, but why did everyone treat me like I was nothing, back when I first walked in? Was it because I'm not a man?" Gladys said quietly. Why would they do that to her?

Caroline instantly looked extremely sad. "Yes, that seems to be the case, but don't worry, they treat me like that too." She said, her enthusiasm completely missing from her voice.

"Thanks, I feel a lot better." She replied sarcastically. Why did she instantly feel so comfortable around her? At this Caroline only laughed.

"What's your name?" She asked, "I think we could become friends."

To Gladys, that sounded great. She needed at least one person here who would help her, as she could tell this was going to be difficult. "Yeah okay, Gladys. Gladys is my name."

"So Gladys," Caroline started, clearly trying to make conversation, "Why did you want to work here?"

"I am here to do science." Gladys said dreamily. "I love science. It just seems so intriguing. It's so fun see the different outcomes of things when you only change some small aspect, or find some way to change the world with simple elements mixed together. You can create a devastating, destructive bomb, or you can prevent a deadly sickness. Science is _everything_. Why not study everything around you?" she finished. Caroline just smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I love science, too. In my first high school year, I joined a chemistry class. I was the only girl in the _entire_ school who didn't want to do anything like home ec or baking. At first, all of the guys made fun of me or treated me like I was nothing. That changed when most of them only had a C+at best, while I was passing with 100%." At this, Gladys laughed. She couldn't believe that people could be so incompetent as to think girls were good for nothing. What do they do when they get home? Kick back, watch TV, and wait for the women to make their food. Sure they made the money, but did they really expect women to just stand there being useless?

"Well, here it is." Caroline announced as they approached office 427. "Your very own office. Sure it's a little small, but it's yours, right? I know it's probably a little weird, but you're actually the first new employee we've had in a while. So, that said, I'll be checking in on you every now and then. I hope it's not a problem!"

"Here," Caroline continued, "I'll take you to the meeting room, there just so happens to be a meeting on the portal gun, the project that you're on. Sounds exciting, right?" She said, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She seemed like a nice enough person to get along with, right? A friend wouldn't hurt. She hadn't ever really had a friend before.

As they walked in, Gladys could hear a collective sigh. Seriously now, did they just hate women? "Hey Caroline, what's she doing here?" One man said.

"Well, this is the newest employee, and she'll be working on the portal project with all of you!" Caroline said, with that fake enthusiasm plastered in her voice yet again. There was an obvious noise of disgust throughout the room, but no one protested. Did Caroline have some authority over everyone? Or did they just listen to her because she was Cave's secretary? "Here, introduce yourself to everyone!"

"Um... Hi. My name is Gladys." She said, obviously not wanting to talk anymore than she had to.

"Alright, miss. Sit down, look pretty, and don't say anything stupid." The man standing up by the whiteboard said. Everyone laughed. Caroline smiled sadly at Gladys and left. Gladys, clearly flustered, decided it was best not to say anything, and just sat down at the only empty seat in the room. As she looked up at the screen, she audibly laughed, but caught herself and covered her mouth.

"What do you find so funny, Gladys?" The man said. Everyone turned to stare at her. Instead of turning red and saying something like 'nothing sir' as she usually would, she decided it was time she proved herself.

"Well, _sir_," she started, sounding very intimidating, "You've obviously messed up. I'm surprised you didn't see your problem before. To be honest, it appeared quite humorous to me. You just have to move the X over to…" she said, walking over to the string of complicated codes and letters and fixing their mistakes as she talked. The whole room was in shocked silence.

"I… I… That wasn't…" The man said, astonished.

"That was bloody brilliant!" One man exclaimed, who was in the corner. "I haven't ever seen someone work that fast! That… That was just amazing!" Everyone in the room collectively sighed and rolled their eyes.

"Shut it, moron." The man next to him said. _Why were they knocking him down for praising me? _She thought

Once the meeting was over, Gladys made her way to her office, and rested her head on the desk. This job was going to be difficult. But at least they had to respect her at some point. Right?

**AUTHORS NOTE:**

**First things first, Gladys is GLaDOS, if you didn't catch that yet. And, yes, the man who praised Gladys was Wheatley. He wasn't really introduced in this chapter, but he'll be involved the next chapter, and definitely almost all of them. This story takes place in the old Aperture era, which is why Cave Johnson isn't dead, and why women aren't really all that respected. I think that Gladys is mostly sweet because when she was first powered up in the actual Portal world, she probably wasn't rude. She was young and innocent. So i'm deciding to go with that version of Gladys for the start of her job. But no worries, you'll get to see the sarcastic Gladys we all know and love! And, this is my first fic that isn't a oneshot! Horray! I'll probably have this updated at least once a week, with oneshots on the side every now and then. A review would be much appreciated, and hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2

Gladys walked into Aperture for her second day of work. As she made her way to her office, she made sure to glare at Greg, menacingly. He shrunk back into his chair and looked back at his screen.

Gladys opened the door to her office and sat down at her desk. Yesterday, she had been told by one of the various secretaries that when she came into work everyday that she would sit at her desk and check for any orders, unless she had been instructed otherwise. Her desk had a computer, drawers for filing, and a plaque that had her name on it. She noticed that it was a little bit cheaper than all of the other scientists', but maybe she just thought that.

Gladys quickly checked her emails and looked for any sign of orders on her desk. When she saw nothing, she moved on to looking over her notes from yesterday. As she opened her notes, she looked at a perfect replica of the what was on the whiteboard yesterday. She continued to edit the long string of numbers listlessly as she thought about yesterday.

_Why had everyone been so rude? Honestly, they couldn't possibly think that I was bad at science. Seriously now. Had they even paid attention to what I did?_ She was still receiving odd glances from the others, even after she'd proven herself. She just couldn't get these thoughts off of her mind.

Gladys picked her head up and looked at the door as she heard a knock. Caroline walked in the office, closing the door behind her. She sighed and pushed a hair from her face.

"So Gladys, how's work going?" She said, sounding completely comfortable around her.

"It's perfectly perfect, in every single way!" She exclaimed with mock enthusiasm. They both broke into a fit of laughter.

"So _Caroline_, how's work going?" Gladys repeated back to Caroline. Although she had a joking tone, she was completely serious. To be honest, she looked like she had just crawled out of the abyss. Caroline noticed the look of concern on Gladys' face, and decided she might as well tell her what was on her mind.

"Actually, it's been a pretty good start today. I haven't had that much work to do." Caroline said. Gladys was shocked that she could actually say something like that.

"Why would you say something like that?" Gladys said, saying exactly what was on her mind. "It's obvious that you're overworked. Sit." She got up from her chair and gestured towards it.

"No, Gladys, it's okay I-"

She narrowed her eyes. "_No_, Caroline. _Sit._" She said, a bit more forcefully.

Caroline gave up instant and sat down on the chair heavily. "You're quite the charmer."

"I try." She replied. "So anyways, tell me. Seriously."

Caroline took a deep breath. "Okay, so I went to my cubicle and sat down and noticed that there was a sheet of paper on my desk. I immediately got up because I knew that mean that I was needed somewhere. It said 'please report to my office' and was signed by Cave. I knew that it was written by someone else, because he would not be that formal and he is normally not very active the first half hour of my shift. Maybe it was written by a secretary. I don't know. So I went there and he told me that I needed to pick up a file from another worker, but didn't tell me what it was. So I went to that worker and he told me that he had lent it to another employee so that he could take a look over it. So then I went to that worker, and the same thing happened. I ended up having to go to eight different employees until I ended up at the one I started with. He pulled out the file that I needed and said 'oops, I made a mistake, I had it all along'. Everyone in the office tried not to laugh and he had a little smirk on his face. I knew that his story was a complete lie. He should just go and-" Caroline stopped herself. "Sorry."

"Its fine." Gladys said with a light laugh.

"So," Caroline said, changing the subject. "the reason I came here in the first place was to tell you to come to lunch. I think you forgot to eat yesterday."

"Oh." Gladys replied. "Alright, sure. I don't really have that much to do. I don't think the other employees trust me with much."

"That's so rude. They all know you've 'got twice as much IQ as they've got brain cells, then times eight'" Caroline said, quoting Mr. Johnson. They both laughed.

"Alright, let's go." Gladys announced.

As they both walked into the small, grey room, Caroline waved to a man at the corner table. He waved back. "Who's that?" Gladys asked. She noticed that he was the one who was nice to her at the meeting.

"That's Wheatley. He's one of the only guys who are nice to me here. He's actually quite sweet." She said while they were walking towards him.

"'Allo, luv!" Wheatley said to Caroline as they sat down. He had black, rectangle glasses, bright blue eyes, messy blonde hair, and a british accent. He was fairly scrawny.

"Oh, you're Gladys, the new one, yeah? I saw you yesterday at the meeting. She was brilliant, Caroline!" he exclaimed. "Oh, you should've seen her. She was writing numbers and signs I didn't recognize, and she figured it out the second she sat down! You should've seen the look on ev'ryone's faces!" Gladys blushed.

"You seem to be worshipping me." She said flatly, although the 'indifferent tone' didn't quite work with the face she was pulling.

"I uh, I don't mean to be, um, really weird, if that's what you're hinting at." Gladys just laughed.

"Well thanks for actually being nice to me." she said. "I get the feeling," she leaned in and whispered, "that some people actually don't like me." she joked sarcastically. Caroline laughed, while Wheatley looked genuinely concerned, as if she had something to learn.

As Gladys turned around, she noticed a table full of people staring at them. She had caught on fairly quickly and figured they were staring simply eating. '_Oh, she's having lunch. I wonder why? I thought she would never eat again.'_ Gladys thought.

"That's you." she muttered. "That's how dumb you sound."

Caroline and Wheatley looked up from their deep conversation of who knows what. "Hm?"

"Nothing."

Now all of them noticed the far table, because they heard the sliding of a chair. The man Gladys remembered as Greg began to walk over.

"I noticed you were in the lunch room." He said, clearly trying to intimidate her.

"Yes, I noticed that too." Gladys said, standing up. She was easily about half of a foot taller than him, and her long, sleek form towered over him. She narrowed her eyes.

"I thought that you weren't going to come here, seeing as you probably can't find your way around your own house." Greg said, with a smirk. _Oh. He isn't intimidated. Pity._ Gladys thought._  
_

She leaned in towards his face. "I'll have you know that I was lead here, by my friend. You know what those are. Well, no, I'm sorry. You've only got that table of people who want perks." He looked back at his table, as if to say '_Hey, get a load of this girl. Isn't she just ridiculous?'_, but was only met with the sight of the others looking down, not being able to make eye contact with him. He grunted and sat back down.

Caroline looked at Gladys and smiled, while Wheatley looked terrified. "That was bloody _dangerous_, y'know that?" He whispered.

"You just have to find out what they're insecure about, then use it against them. It's pretty simple, and if you're good enough at it, it's pretty hard to get in trouble for. What's he going to say? 'I just found out that I don't have real friends and it's all Gladys' fault'?"

"So like… Poking an open wound?"

"Sure, whatever makes you happy." Now Wheatley looked even more scared than before.

"It's okay, moron." Wheatley usually flinched whenever someone called him that, but when Caroline did it, he looked okay. It even seemed he found comfort in it._ How strange_.

After lunch, Gladys walked back to her office by herself. She had already memorized the path from the way there with Caroline. As she walked down the corridors, she saw Greg in the path ahead of her. Gladys sighed inwardly. _When was he going to quit?_

"Hey _Gladys_." He said, trying to calm himself, but failing.

"Hello."

"I know what you did back there, and I hope it never happens again."

"I'm sorry. I'm genuinely confused. Care to explain?"

"I haven't got anything to explain. You _will_ crash and burn, and if you don't, I will _make_ you." Although she looked calm, on the inside she was panicking. _What was that supposed to mean?_

"Thank you for your input." She said, ignoring her nerves. "It really matters to me. Really. You should think more often." Greg grunted, once again, and walked past her. She didn't know what was going on with the whole 'acceptance and respect' thing, but she knew she didn't like it.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**First of all, I am EXTREMELY sorry for the wait. I had awful writers block, and I'll try to post as soon as I can for each chapter, which will probably be between 1-2 weeks (Sorry). And on top of that, school just started for me so there might be waits like this one again.**

**As for the actual story, as you've probably noticed, Wheatley was introduced! Personally, I think that if he was a worker at Aperture, he'd let himself be pushed around, or not understand how badly they're treating him.**

**Gladys is still getting pushed around, but is already changing to protect herself. There will be a backstory to why she does this sort of thing soon, don't worry. She already is pretty comfortable with Caroline and Wheatley because they are kind to her. They haven't given her a reason for her to not trust them, so she trusts them automatically.**

**The whole Caroline rant was sort of to express the fact that she doesn't have anyone to say her feelings to, because no one listens to her. At first she didn't want to say what was wrong because if she shows emotion, she is taken even less seriously than before. And when she cuts herself off, she's used to nobody caring. It's sort of like when you're really passionate about something, but the person you're talking to could care less. And when that happens enough, it can feel like no one cares. Personally I think that's extremely sad when someone has to apologize for simply expressing their self.**

**And as for Greg, he's obviously the main antagonist. And if I didn't say this in the previous chapter, this fanfiction is NOT saying that men are pigs and men are all jerks. This takes place in the 80's, so women obviously weren't treated the same. I just needed to clear that up before I attracted an angry crowd. Hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW HOW SORRY I AM FOR THE CODE AND FOR ME HAVING TO RE UPLOAD I AM EXTREMELY SORRY ABOUT IT.**

Gladys sat heavily at her desk, sighing. Today was Friday, and she got weekends off. As she was anticipating the end of the day so she could finally leave, the day felt longer than ever, and Gladys was checking the clock in her office constantly. Every minute felt like an hour.

She had a meeting today, and she was completely ready. Gladys got access to all the things that the others were doing, and things that she didn't even know they were excluding her from. She paid close attention to what they'd done, and how she would fix the idiotic mistakes they'd made. Honestly, if they were intelligent enough to make it onto this project, you'd think they could be smarter than a third grader.

Gladys glanced at the clock and realized that it was time to head to the meeting room. She gathered her supplies, got up from her desk, and headed to her destination.

When she approached the room, she noticed Caroline standing in front of the door, who focused her attention to Gladys as soon as she saw her.

Caroline smiled. "Good luck."

Gladys walked into the room and noticed she was three minutes early, and there weren't many people in the room. She pulled her papers out and began to look over them. She smirked to herself. They better not be expecting me to be a complete failure. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they realize that I'm not a moron. She thought.

"Oh! 'Allo!" A familiar brit yelled. Gladys looked up to see Wheatley, and smiled. "Can I sit here? Is, is that okay?"

"No. You cannot sit there. That seat is preserved for anyone but you, because they all hate me, so I must sit with them. Obviously." He looked disappointed, and began to turn around to leave. She poked him lightly in the back. "That was sarcasm. Yes, you can sit there." She said, smiling. His face instantly lit up, and he quickly made his spot there. Suddenly the rest of the people filed in, all at once. When they saw her, the conversations almost seemed to stop all at once. She waved unenthusiastically at them.

As the meeting started, Gladys felt a familiar happiness again. She felt it mostly when she was doing science, and she could tell that they were going to be very stumped, very soon. It was almost her time to show off. Then she looked over and saw Wheatley looking bored and confused.

"Hey, Wheatley." She leaned and whispered. He jumped a little bit, then gave his full attention towards her. "Here, you go up there. I know how to fix that problem. Just look at these and try to remember what to fix. I'll help you out if you get stuck." Wheatley looked surprised, but wasn't about to decline the offer. He quickly nodded and slid the papers towards himself. After taking a quick look at them, he raised his hand, and snickers came across the room.

"Uh, I think that, I um, know how to fix the problem that we're having, I think."

"Wheatley, are you sure?" The head of the project asked. Obviously, everyone in the room found it amusing that he thought he could even process it, let alone figure it out.

"Yup! I'm uh, pretty confident, if I may say so myself." He got up, and headed towards the whiteboard. Whenever he'd get stuck, Gladys would quickly write something on a paper and hold it up, so he could see it. Everyone's attention was on Wheatley, and they were sitting in the back, so it was pretty easy to get away with. This was strange to Gladys. She'd never thought of helping out anyone like this before, and didn't think she'd get any satisfaction out of it. It made her a little bit happy on the inside, and she didn't understand why. She had never felt this way before and didn't know how to react, and she didn't like that.

After Wheatley finished, he stood tall and proud, while everyone was in a shocked silence. He looked at Gladys and smiled awkwardly, and she just had to smile back. I hope he knows how silly he looks. He walked over to her, and since there wasn't anything to look over for the day, the meeting was over.

"Hey! Thanks for that!" He said as soon as she got up. "What'd you do that for?"

"I don't know. But you did great."

"No, no, you're the one who actually did the work."

"No," She said, narrowing her eyes and poking a finger into his chest. "You did great. You got up there and did it, so therefore you did great."

"Okay!" He said, holding his hands up in surrender. Gladys immediately laughed. "So, lunch? We're meeting Caroline, right?" She nodded. "Good, lets go!"

As they made their way towards the lunchroom, Wheatley decided to made conversation. "So, Gladys, how has your day been?"

"Pretty good. I don't think anyone made fun of me. To me of course." Wheatley grimaced and put his hands on his hips.

"No, come on, really, how was your day? Tell me everything. All the stuff you've done, all good things, all the bad, just everything. How've you been, luv?" Gladys stopped in her tracks.

"What was that."

"Hm?"

"That word you called me. 'luv'."

Wheatley blushed. "Oh, um, sorry. It's just a sort of thing that comes from being British. I got it from Bristol, to be specific. Since that's where I come from. Bristol in good old Great Britain. I can, uh, stop it, if you'd like. I should remember by now Americans don't like that."

"No! No. It's okay. I'm okay with that." Gladys immediately realized how frantic she sounded, and tried to straighten her voice out. "If you so desire."

"So," He said, not even noticing the changes in her voice. "About your day. What's happened?"

"Do you really want to know?" Gladys asked, and Wheatley eagerly nodded. "If you say so. Today, I came into work. Then I got weird glances from others, to be expected, then I walked into my office. I looked over the papers that I prepared, then started the papers that were left on my desk for me to fill out. It was boring. Then I went to a meeting. You probably know the rest."

"Aw that was boring, luv!" He exclaimed, clearly already comfortable with using 'luv' again. "Tell me all the details, I said! Everything! You just did the little bit of it."

"I did tell you."

"No, you said words. Do you need help?"

"Don't suggest something as stupid as-"

"That's a yes. How did you feel when you walked in." She sighed.

"Superior."

"That's… That's a start. Why?" He had a worried expression on his face, like he didn't expect that answer.

"Because I was looking down at them and they decided to make fun of me with their eyes. That was a metaphor. If you couldn't tell. But they just looked dumb and I felt tall and better." Gladys said what she truly felt at the time, and was trying to be completely honest with him.

"Um, okay, moving onto the next thing, which was… Ah, looking over papers. How'd you feel about that?"

"Happy. I was going to laugh at their stupid little faces when they realized that I had access to files they restricted. It wasn't hard. I probably could've done it without a brain. Do you know what the password was? 'portalgun'. Seriously now, what is the point of asking all of these questions?"

"So you can get all of your emotions out. I think that helps people when they're stressed. I think. How did you feel about filling out paperwork?" '_This is good,'_ Wheatley thought. '_She's finally talking about herself, since she seems to not even care about what she feels most of the time.'  
_

"It was dumb. Boring. I felt like I was being used as a secretary, and not treated to fit my rank."

"That sounds really boring. Like you said. How did you feel about the meeting?" Gladys instantly tensed up. '_I don't know what to say.'_

"I felt like it was a meeting."

"What's that supposed to mean, luv?"

"It means that I felt like I was in a meeting. Which I was, by the way."

"But-" He started.

"Oh, look, we're here." Wheatley slumped a little bit, but walked towards their table with Gladys.

"Hey! How's your day?" Caroline asked as they both sat down. Wheatley just laughed.

"Already tried that, sorry." She just gave them a weird look, but decided not to press, and to just change the subject.

"So how was the meeting? Did you guys do good? Was anything figured out? I want to know everything that happened."

"Oh you wouldn't believe it!" Wheatley yelled. He instantly quieted his voice once everyone else in the break room stared at them. "Gladys let me go up there and say her notes and sound smart. She's pretty good at doing that sort of stuff. Science, I mean. Now everyone thinks i'm less of a moron than before. Everyone looked pretty shocked."

"Oh, that is an understatement. I wish you could've seen the looks on their faces, Caroline. They looked so… Idiotic." Gladys purposely avoided the use of the word 'moron' around Wheatley. She was smart enough to know he was sensitive to the word, and didn't want to upset him. She didn't quite know why.

"Sounds exciting. I wish I was there. But happy Friday!" Caroline shouted.

"Oh, are Fridays holidays now? I wasn't aware. How can we celebrate?" Gladys said, with a flat tone, although she had a small smile. She couldn't help it, Caroline was just really good at brightening her day.

"Yup! And I've got just the thing." Caroline grabbed a stray piece of paper from the floor and rolled it into a cone. She plucked a pen from Wheatley's coat and drew little circles onto it, then plopped it straight onto Gladys' head. She did not look amused.

"What is this, and why is it on my head."

"It's a party hat! For Friday." Gladys crumpled it up flicked it at Caroline. Wheatley and Caroline laughed.

"Anything exciting happen?" Wheatley asked Caroline, as soon as the laughing died down.

"I got to listen to Cave ranting, if that counts. Today was actually pretty slow. I've got a lot to do for the rest of the day, though. I hate weekend paperwork."

"I'm staying to help you, so you won't have to worry." Gladys said.

"You could've left before lunch, but now you're going to waste your time helping me? I don't need help, Gladys. It's fine."

"No. I'm helping. It's not like I have anything to do."

"Don't you want to go out and have fun? Don't you have anyone to go out with?" Gladys was quiet for a moment.

"I'm helping you. That's final."

After lunch, they said goodbye to Wheatley, and started on Caroline's papers.

"You're pretty good at filling out papers. When'd this happen?"

"Well, it happened the day that I could understand how to write" Caroline laughed. "I had to fill out papers similar to these all week. I don't know what the purpose of these are, really, if I had already fill the other ones." Caroline looked shocked.

"Gladys!" She yelled, getting Gladys to look at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I? I can't think of anything that would come out of it."

"I could've made sure you do, uh, science-y stuff."

"Science-y stuff?"

"Scientists don't just fill out papers, Gladys, they do science. I know you love science, so why would they make you do papers instead? That's stupid. I should go down there right now and make you do science."

"No, it's okay. I'll figure something out."

"Good. You're not here to be a backup secretary. Not if I can help it." Caroline's face was deep red. _Why was she so angry? Nobody should care about me that much. That's dumb._

It was silent for a few minutes, except for shuffling of papers. Caroline finally spoke.

"Why don't you have anyone to go and have fun with? Is everyone you know busy?" Gladys was quiet. "Gladys?"

"I don't have anyone. To 'go and have fun with', I mean."

"Not even parents or anything?" She asked.

"I don't know them. They decided I wasn't good enough." When she looked up a few seconds later, she realized that Caroline was right in front of her.

"Gladys. Your parents are awful. They aren't good enough for you." She said, poking her nose.

"Well thanks, Caroline, when you put it that way, I feel much better." Gladys said sarcastically.

"Everyone needs at least someone to have a little fun with, to talk to, to consider a friend. And I will be more than happy to be that person. I'm serious, Gladys. You mean something to me." Gladys just stared at her.

"You're not being funny Caroline." She said after yet another moment of silence. "This is a cruel joke. And I don't like it."

"No, Gladys! Listen to me! I don't think that you're a bad person. And whatever makes you think that I would try to hurt you like that, you need to believe me instead." Gladys was surprised by how frantic Caroline sounded. She looked down.

"I just never considered that there were people who won't try to hurt me."

I can't even imagine that. Me and Wheatley can be the people who won't try to hurt you." Gladys considered this for a moment.

"Promise?" Caroline smiled.

"Promise."

**AUTHORS NOTE**

**I am so sorry about the code thing that happened! I'm not quite sure how it happened, because that didn't show up for me before I published it. I'll try to check it more to make sure that it doesn't happen again. I'm a little embarassed ;-;**

**As for the story, Gladys is sort of scared of her emotions, because she hasn't experienced happiness from helping others. She really hasn't helped others with out being forced to, so it's really weird for her. She doesn't know how to feel about her emotions, so she hides them and doesn't even like to think about them. That's also a big reason she refused to open up about the meeting with Wheatley, because she doesn't really know what they are. Also, as for the little outburst with Caroline, she still has a little bit of distrust with them. She's truly never had anyone who hasn't wanted something from her, so she suspects that they are the same way. This will be explained a little bit more next chapter with Little Gladys! (Yay!)**

**Wheatley tries to get Gladys to open up for three reasons: 1. He's grateful for the meeting and wants to help her out. 2. He sees that she's stressed, even if she herself doesn't notice straight away. 3. He really wants to help her because she hasn't been mean towards him and he already considers her a friend.**

**Caroline cares about Gladys because so far, she's one of the only actual friends she's had for a long time, because she's so invested in Aperture. Even the secretaries dislike her because she is a higher rank secretary, so she doesn't really fit in. Her and Gladys are in the same sort of position, so she tries to help her. She feels bad for Gladys and refuses to let her feel bad about herself.**

**I hope you enjoyed, and a review would be greatly appreciated! (I'm still sorry about the code, I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**[WARNING] This chapter includes topics such as orphanages, adoption, depression, suicidal thoughts, and death. Please don't read if you are sensitive to these topics. This is going to be a sad chapter.**

Today I turn eight!

I'm so excited. I don't think anyone here at the orphanage remembers, but I do. They might remember later. I hope I get presents. I'm really happy that i'm eight. That means that i'm a year older than I used to be!

I get to go to a different family, too. The other kids here said that the family i'm gonna go to is really rich, and they have really cool stuff there. Someone even said that they have a color TV!

Right now i'm packing into my little bag. I don't really have that much, but I do have Mr. Fluffy, my yellow bunny. He used to be a pretty yellow, but now that he got all dirty, so he looks a little more like the color of my eyes.

I think my eyes look cool, but I get teased a lot. I know they're just jealous, 'cause they aren't as cool as me. I get teased for my sort of white hair, but they're probably just jealous about that, too.

I just finished packing, so i'm going to go to the front doors, to wait for my new family. My new family for right now, at least. Nobody stopped me, because everyone knows that if you have a little bag then you're going to go to a home. While I was walking there, some people waved to me and smiled, so I did the same, It's good to be nice to people, especially if they're nice, too.

Finally, I sat down by the front door and waved at Doris. She's the checkout person, and she helps us get to the right families that we're supposed to go to. She's really nice.

I can barely sit still as i'm waiting for my family. I don't know what they look like, or what I should call them yet. Nobody told me. I hope they're really nice. I keep wiggling my feet back and forth, 'cause I can barely contain myself. I hear the adults say that a lot about me. I also hear words I don't understand, like 'too excitible'. I think that comes from excited, which is a good thing. That means that I get to be happy all the time, right?

I'm trying to teach myself to be smarter. Then when I grow up I can get a good job and make a lot of money and maybe meet a nice person and have kids. I won't ever ever ever let them go to an orphanage, 'cause then they would wonder why I didn't love them. I'll make sure that I take my kids really fun places, and spend a lot of money on them, because I'll be rich. Just like the family that i'm going to. I just can't wait for them to show up!

Finally, after eight billion years, I hear the little bell above the door ring.. Two people in really nice clothes come through the door. They look a little bit silly because of how pricey their clothes look and how poor this place looks. I have to try really hard to hold in my laugh, but I keep it in.

They people walk up to Doris, and start saying stuff that I can't hear. Doris looks over their shoulders and points at me. I've done this at least ten times before, so i'm pretty sure that means the they're my family! My family turns around and looks at me. I smile and wave at them.

I wonder if they have kids. I hope so! Then I can make friends. I wonder how big their house is. I wonder what their car looks like. Everything feels all fluttery inside and i'm getting really excited. They start to walk over to me.

"Hello, Gladys." The woman says. "My name is Mrs. Hudson. And this is Mr. Hudson." Mr. and Mrs. Hudson. Now I can finally call them something! I have to make sure to remember their names really well.

I look up and smile at them even bigger than before. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Hudson! I'm really excited to come with you guys. You guys look super fun!" They both laugh.

They grab both of my hands, and help me up. I have to put my arm in the bag loops, because I can't hold it any other way. Which is okay, because I like holding hands. So far, I don't think any of the other families have been this nice to me. They usually just look at me and tell me to follow them. Maybe they tease my eyes and my hair inside their heads. I think about that a lot, and that's the thing that makes the most sense to me.

When we finally get to the car, they put me in the back seat and started to drive. The car looks really fancy. The seats are soft and red, and I think it looks really pretty in here. Red is my almost favorite color, because yellow is my favorite. Which is sorta funny, because my eyes. I think about my eyes a lot, too.

The ride on the way to their house was really quiet. That made me sort of nervous, because usually the families I don't like don't talk to me. Sometimes I see them glare at me in the mirror-thing, which means they don't like me. Why would they take me in if they didn't like me? That sounds really stupid to me.

Maybe they're just nervous. Maybe they never did this before? I really hope so. After a while I hear one of them clear their throat.

"So, Gladys. How old are you?" Said Mrs. Hudson. I got really excited. I was hoping they'd ask that! I don't like to bring up stuff like that unless i'm asked, because that usually makes the adults angry. But now they were asking me!

"I am eight years old, starting today!" It took a few seconds before one of them knew what that meant, but finally Mrs. Hudson spoke again.

"So… Today is your..?" She trailed off. I wonder why she did that.

"Yup! Today is my birthday!" I said.

"Did you get any presents?" I got really quiet for a second.

"Um… no. Not really. We don't celebrate birthdays there." They both looked really sad, so I wanted to cheer them up a little bit and not make them feel bad. "It's okay!" I said quickly, "The other families never gave me anything, so i'm used to it. I'm not really that upset." After I said that, they looked even more sad! Maybe that was the wrong thing to say.

"Do you want to get ice cream then?" Oh my gosh! Ice cream? That sounds so good! I don't want to sound rude though. Maybe then they wouldn't like me. That wouldn't be good. So I made sure I sounded really polite.

"If it isn't any problem, then yeah!" I can't wait! I haven't had ice cream in a long time. I almost forget what it tastes like.

We pull into what I think is their driveway, and they get out of the car, so I follow.

"The ice cream place is just down the street from here, so we're just going to walk. Is that okay, Gladys?" Mr. Hudson asks. I nod my head really fast. They both take hold of my hands, and we start to walk down the street, towards what is probably the ice cream shop.

"You guys are really nice. I like you already!"

* * *

Everything hurts. I don't think i've ever felt this much pain before. I should've died too. But now i'm all alone again, just like I used to be, and it hurts so much.

When I used to hear the phrase 'my heart shattered', I thought that it was impossible. How could anyone's heart break? And how could they feel something that wasn't happening? But now I know what they mean, and now I wish that I had never found out.

They were going to get me a present. A stupid present. They said turning 14 was something special, and they were going to try to find the 'perfect gift' for me. But then the car just had to come into the picture, and hurt them. Both mom _and_ dad. And now they're gone, because some selfish moron just had to not look. He couldn't even look over once, because that was too much for him.

Nothing is worse than 'Happy birthday, you're parents are dead and you're going back to the orphanage you spent most of your life in.' I don't want to be here. I want my parents. They adopted me, even though everyone else had thought I was a 'freak' or a 'defect'. They loved my hair and my eyes just as much as I did. So they took me and and cared for me, more than anyone else ever did.

I still have to go to the stupid school they signed me up for. I have one friend there. Having white hair and yellow-y eyes don't really help you fit in. Which i'm fine with, by the way. It means that I get to see their dumb faces when they realize that i'm better than them. Especially at science. My dad was a scientist, and always let me help him. He helped me realize how fascinating science really is.

They'd both make me see the bright side of everything. Since that helped a lot, I've been trying to do that. And for the longest time that i've been trying to think of the answer to that. I can only come up with one.

This made me realize how much I hate life. Not that i'm going to kill myself or anything. Life would win. I truly do want to die on the inside, but I want more than anything to not let life win. That means losing, like mom and dad did. I hate losing.

I'm working on a science paper right now. I'm probably smarter than most the teachers in my school when it comes to science. But of course i'm in the stupid class. I can tell. If you look around, you can see people who don't care, people who don't want to be there, and people who are extremely bored. Which I think is very idiotic of them, because science is very important to understanding life. But these kids just want to skip class because they can't take a few hours out of their life to just listen for once. But they're not in an orphanage, where there's nothing else to do. I've just learned to never take anything for granted, but obviously nobody there knows how to take a look at how lucky they are. And they use their ignorance to try to get to me.

Why do so many people have to be so stupid? They can't do anything. They don't contribute to society. Most of them don't even know what they want to do when they're older! And for those who do, they have a pretty bad choice.

Most of the girls want to be either a teacher or a housewife. That sounds ridiculous. Why would you want to be in an environment with screaming children all day? And most of the boys want to do something 'cool', like building cars. I swear, if anyone mentions cars around me, I will have my hand on their neck so fast that-

I need to stop that. I keep getting more and more violent thoughts, and I don't like where that is leading. I don't want to have my hands covered in blood. Mom and Dad wouldn't want that. Although some days it seems that it would be very satisfying to kill everyone who I see as a pest. But I heard somewhere that genocide is wrong, so I don't think that's an option.

I just laughed. I laughed at my own joke. Firstly, I must seem like a maniac, because I'm in my room with 3 other girls.

Who are now all staring at me.

Secondly, I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've smiled since the accident. Which I think would be a pretty good indicator that I need people to talk to. But for that to happen, I need someone who's going to try to understand what I talk about. Or at least pretend to listen, or care at all. I used to try to talk to people, and they'd just look at me really weird, or be obviously trying not to laugh at me. So I usually just stop in the middle of my sentence, get up, and leave. I don't look sad, I don't look angry, just calm. And that genuinely scares them, which produces faces of shock on them, which I find hilarious.

My hobbies include depression, having no friends, and laughing at people's pain.

The girls still haven't stopped staring. What are they looking at? All three of them are new here, so maybe they think that I look weird. Or they think that I'm new. Great. I give them my most terrifying glare, and growl "What?" They jump a little bit, and look away immediately. I admit, that was pretty funny. What a group of incompetents.

I see out of the corner of my eye one of them getting up. Then I notice she's walking towards me. What could she possibly want? I look up from my homework, and give her an intimidating stare. She looks surprised for a second, but continues walking towards me. I guess I have to deal with yet another pest.

"Hi, um, we noticed that you were new here, and we wanted to help you get to know the place a little bit." I laugh bitterly, and stand up.

"I'm not new here. I've just been… On a break. For six years. I don't need anyone's help."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you… Want to be friends, then?" She asks. Oh no. I feel words start to form, and they aren't kind. I haven't talked to anyone much since the accident, and now i'm going to express my anger out loud. And I don't have any control over what i'm going to say.

"No." I seethe. "I don't need friends. I can be all by myself. Besides, why would I want anyone as incompetent as you to be a part of what I consider a friend? You three don't seem to be very bright, if kindly put. I don't want to associate myself with anyone like that. You will never live up to the emptiness and cold blackness that my _dead_ parents left me with, and I do not want you to. So if you could leave me alone, that would be great."

"Why are you crying?" I didn't realize that I was crying. Not until she pointed it out at least. The last thing I need is for them to be spreading rumors saying I was a crybaby. A lot of people cry here, though, and i'm more aware of it than I used to be. I don't know what to say to her.

"I don't… Leave me alone." The thought that anyone could portray me as weak is frightening, and I don't like it. At the moment, that small, stupid sentence is all I could think of to get her to leave. I sit down, and continue to do my homework. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will.

I must look like a fool. I'm so angry at myself for looking so stupid. I don't have much time to dwell on the thought before I feel weight on my shoulder. Which I assume is probably a hand.

I look up to see the girl's face. I don't even try to glare at her. With silent tears streaked across my face, it probably wouldn't have much of an effect. She sits down next to me, and nudges me gently.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I say. She frowns.

"I'm not going to go and tell anyone. You can just tell me and we can be friends. _I_ want to be friends." She says, smiling. I finally give in, and I feel a ghost of a smile come to my face. My stupid face betrayed me. I don't really want to tell her. Not at all. But my parents would usually say to 'talk it out' with someone if I was upset. And the mood i'm in right now would probably be considered 'upset'.

"I was adopted. Then my parents died. Not very fun. They were going to get me a stupid present." I feel the tears start to form behind my eyes, and I force them to stay in my sockets. I can't think straight, and I hate it. I love to sound smart, but now i'm finding myself using 'stupid' more than anything. Even my own brain is betraying me. Thanks for that, by the way.

"Well if it helps, we don't really have parents either." She said, gesturing towards the other two. I laugh at that. I can't believe I forgot that. Nobody here has parents. And I forgot. I forgot that the place I went to because I don't have parents is the place everyone goes to when they don't have parents. I feel like an imbecile.

"Thanks, that actually helped the deepening black hole that is my heart. Thanks for that." Instead of being offended, she just laughs.

"What's your name?"

"Are we on a name basis now? I'm not sure I can trust you."

"I'm Fanny. Pretty dumb name, if you ask me. I just like 'Effie'. Sounds a whole lot better than 'Fanny'. God, why did they have to choose that? And then abandon me? Thanks, mom and dad. Love you too." She says sarcastically. I guess if she's going to be that open with me.

"Alright, i'm Gladys."

"Okay, well their names are Jess and Sue. They also hate their names. Not as bad as 'Fanny', though." I smile. Maybe I will have a friend that won't just be friends with me because they feel bad. Because she's in the same position. And I think i'll come to enjoy that.

**AUTHORS NOTE  
First of all, you can all put your pitchforks away, i'm finally back after a month. Sorry for that. I'm going to be completely honest, and say that I truly was slacking a bit. I'm not even going to lie about that. I also had a major creative block, so if the chapter ending was boring, i'm sorry for that, too.**

**So for 8 year old Gladys, she's extremely happy and excited for life. She hasn't really had much of a reason to hate life, because she understands and accepts her situation. And she's still very innocent. She doesn't really realize most of the bad things about her life, because she turns them into good things without even knowing it. She's been through quite a few different foster families before the Hudsons (Yes, I got their names from Sherlock. That's just how creative I am), and none of them have treated her well. That's why shes pleasantly surprised when she sees how kind they are to her.**

**As for 14 year old Gladys, she's pretty depressed. Imagine if you spent 8 years of your life in an orphanage, got adopted for exactly 6 years, then your adoptive parents died, so you had to go back to the orphanage. That would probably be pretty sad. Those six years got her into science, and trying to be extremely intelligent. Basically, she uses sarcasm because murder is illegal, so she gets satisfaction out of that. At first, she tries to push the other girls away because she's afraid of them hurting her. She hates showing weakness, and doesn't want any chance to show anyone that, so she pushes them all away.**

**Anyways, I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter! A review would be very appreciated, if you can. And again, sorry for the wait! I know that whenever a fic delays like mine did I get really annoyed. Sorry.**


	5. Chapter 5

Gladys sighed, and sat down on her couch. Today was a long day at work, but at last it's all over. After filing papers with Caroline, which turned out to be more emotional than expected, she was tired. Gladys glanced at the clock, and saw that it was 11:04.

_Why would anyone be forced to work overtime for two extra hours? And get little to no overtime pay? Poor Caroline._ Gladys thought. Caroline worked overtime many nights at Aperture, from what Gladys could tell. She isn't paid much money for the amount of effort and energy she puts into this job. _She must be taken advantage of a lot._

After thinking it over, Gladys decided to get something from her fridge. It is a small, dirty thing, that decides to break down in the worst of times. When she looked into the fridge, she realized that she's almost out of food. Besides leftovers from earlier on in the week, and some milk, it's completely empty. Some sort of irritated growl escaped from the back of her throat.

Gladys decided to eat however much spaghetti is left. She ate it cold, and threw the bowl into her sink. No matter how much poise she may have around others, she is always completely relaxed at home. Nobody can interfere with the small amount of time where she doesn't have to worry about anything.

She crawled into bed, not even caring that she still has her clothes on. She could change clothes tomorrow. All she cares about is the black, empty nothingness that seems very welcoming to her. Her eyes close before she can even fully pull the blankets onto herself.

* * *

_Stop it. That sounds annoying. Who dares interrupt my slumber. I want to stay sleeping. Go away._

Gladys slowly reached her arm up, and pounded on the top of the blaring alarm clock. She didn't want to get up. She wanted to sit in bed all day and feel nothing. But she had to get up, and go to work.

Work. The place where she could say that two people were remotely nice to her and where everyone else despised her. The wonderful place where she felt so very accepted, with massive sarcasm quotes.

Gladys sat up slowly, and stayed at her bedside for a few minutes, contemplating her grogginess. Finally she got up, and decided that she should have a slice of toast and a hot cup of coffee. She pressed on on the coffee maker, walked over to the toaster. A loaf of bread waiting by said machine.

She pulled out a piece of bread, a dropped it in the toaster, walking towards the couch. She decided to plan what her day would be like, so she could make sure everything works out fine. Gladys picked up a pen and started to write on the stack of papers that she always there, just for the purpose of planning her day. She began to write.

1. go to work obviously

2. go to office and stare at anyone who sets you off and make them uncomfortable.

3. look for any tasks on desk

4. go through the restricted files for the project

5. Awards Day wow sounds great I cant wait to be there

The list seemed pretty good to Gladys, so she folded it neatly and stuck it in her breast pocket. Then the distinct smell of burning bread filled the air. _No no no no no no no._

She ran over to the toaster, ripped the now burnt toast out as best as she could, and threw it on the counter. Deciding that she didn't have enough time to make more, she left the burnt, rock hard toast on the counter, electing to clean it later. Coffee seemed filling enough.

After the coffee was poured into her mug, she quickly walked out her apartment door, being sure to lock it. Although she was pretty sure that no one would rob her sad excuse for a living environment, this area was a little bit shady, and not to be trusted.

She quickly went down all four flights of stairs, not tripping on her high heels at all. She strode out the door, coffee in one arm, her suitcase under the other, and headed towards her car.

She sat down in her car, and rested her head on the steering wheel. She just sat there for a second, before deciding to stop wasting gas and head off to work.

She pulled into the Aperture Science Parking Lot for Aperture Science Employees, and quickly headed towards the entrance. Today was Awards Day, which was apparently every three months. Gladys was confident that she wasn't going to get any awards, because although Caroline is in charge of these events and the awards available, everyone gets to vote. And if there was anything that she knew for sure, it was that no one was going to vote for her. She hadn't voted for anything yet, and wasn't planning to.

She walked into the the doors and headed towards her office, like she would on any other day. Except today, she had to leave her office early to attend Awards Day. There wasn't much of a problem with that, because she would get to see Caroline and Wheatley more that usual today. She was getting attached to both of them, but did not want to think about it at all.

There weren't many papers on her desk, so she would probably be done done in a short time. As she filled them out, she thought about what Caroline had said about being a secretary. As much as Gladys didn't want to believe it, she couldn't help but think that it's true.

Shaking the thought from her head, she finished up the last of her papers, and decided that she was going to visit Caroline. She got up from her desk, walked out of the door, and headed towards Caroline's office. Gladys hoped that Caroline would be surprised. She couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she walked through the door.

When she could see her office door only a few feet in front of her, she began to panic. What if Caroline was too busy? What if Caroline didn't want to see her? What if Caroline didn't like Gladys anymore, but was just trying to be nice to her? As these thoughts made their way to the front of her mind, she decided that she would best find out by going inside and figuring out herself.

Walking the few foot distance, she finally made it to Caroline's door. She paused a moment, then opened the door and swiftly walked into the room. As soon as she saw Caroline's face, she was instantly comforted. Gladys couldn't describe it, but when she was around Caroline or Wheatley, she felt safe. She decided not to question it.

"Gladys! What are you doing here?" At first Gladys was worried she didn't want to see her, until she reassured herself that she was only surprised, not angry.

"I finished up my work, and I figured that I would come to see you. How are you doing?" Caroline smiled, as if she was extremely glad this was asked.

"I'm doing great, actually. Today I don't have nearly as much work as I usually do, and now I just have to organize who's winning what. For awards day, I mean."

"Oh, well, is there anything I could do to help? If you need it. Because I have nothing else to do, and I don't feel like going through restricted files today."

"Not rea- Oh! You could actually say who gets what and I'll write it down. I don't have anything to do either after that. Here." Caroline handed Gladys a list full of crosses, circles, and lines connecting people to labels.

Gladys read the list as best she could, while Caroline wrote down what she said. After the last name was written, Caroline led her over to her desk. There was an extra chair off to the side, which she pulled over so Gladys could sit. _The chair is probably for Cave._ Gladys thought. _I can tell he thinks she's his doll._

"So, tell me about a day in the life of Gladys."

"Oh, you know. Eating. Working. Doing stuff." Caroline pouted.

"You're being difficult! I just want to know what you do!" Gladys immediately gave in, and figured it would do no good to resist. After all, it _is_ Caroline, and she is quite persistent.

"Okay well I woke up. That was interesting. It involved opening my eyes, and getting up. I wouldn't put it under the list of things I like to do. Then I made a list of things that i'm going to do today, like I always-why are you looking at me like that?" Caroline laughed.

"Do you always do that? Make lists? I mean, a list here and there is fine, but _everyday_? Can I see it?"

"Do people not make lists? Now I know why I think i'm better than most people. It's because I really _am_. Does no one make lists to keep organized? Honestly, they wonder why we get nothing done around here."

"I mean, I love Aperture and all, but sometimes, I have to agree with you. Not the lists, but not getting much done. I feel like no one here really tries hard enough. Except you, of course. You are the best scientist here! I wonder what everyone's problem with you is.

"I can make an idiot watch my work, but I can't make him realize how much of an idiot he truly is. They don't like me because I threaten them. 'Oh no, a girl! Whatever shall we do?!' idiots." Gladys chuckled a bit. "It's funny how amusing people are when they're completely ignorant."

"Hey Gladys," Caroline started, changing the subject. "what time is it? I think the awards start soon, and I have to be there ten minutes early."

"It is…" She paused to look at the clock. "11:48. Doesn't it start at-" But before she could even finish that thought, Caroline had bursted up from her desk, picked up the small box containing the ribbons and papers, grabbed Gladys by the wrist, and headed towards the door.

As they quickly made way down the halls to the room where the "ceremony" was being held, Gladys noticed how many people were also getting ready to head towards the ceremony room, and how awful it would be if she and Caroline didn't make it on time. She suddenly became aware of what she was thinking.

_Why should I care if Caroline gets in trouble or not? Why do I? This 'friend' concept is a little hard to understand. I don't like not understanding things._

Finally, they made it into the ceremony room. Gladys now realized that it was the largest meeting room in all of Aperture. At least, the largest one she had ever seen there. Quickly, they began to organize the ribbons in order on the table, and kept the list closeby.

As they waited for everyone to show up, they saw Wheatley walking through the door. He waved, smiled, and quickly made his way across the room, but not without bumping his knees on at least two tables. He laughed it off, but was obviously nervous, considering that there were others watching.

When he finally made it over to them, he hugged both Gladys and Caroline. Caroline reacted as if this was normal, but Gladys couldn't move as she was paralyzed from his tight grip. She felt heat rushing to her face.

"Allo! How's it going? Did you have enough time for girl chat, uh, time?" Caroline laughed, but Gladys was still frozen. _Stop it!_ She thought. _Move, for god's sake! What is _wrong _with you?_

"What's wrong, luv?" She realized he was talking to her, and snapped back to attention. "Did I hug you too tight? I- Oh. Did I ever hug you before?" She shook her head. "Oh, sorry if I uh, caught you by s'prise. Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's fine. I just... didn't expect it." _All of this friendly affection is making me an idiot. I'm still not used to all of this._

"So how's the stuff?" He asked.

"Oh you know, we did stuff, finished things, the usual." Caroline chimed in, with her normally cheery voice.

"I meant the awards! Is everything all sorted out?"

"Well gosh, I hope so. Considering me and Caroline just worked on it."

"So," He started, leaning in and whispering, "did I win anything?"

"Yes," Caroline said, matter-of-factly, "you won…" She looked around the space around her for a few seconds, and found something of interest. A sticker sheet. "This!" She said, sticking a sticker on his forehead. "It's for being extra smiley and sweet."

He tried to look a bit angry, but that lasted only a few seconds. He suddenly burst out in laughter, and soon the rest of the group followed. They talked about their day and caught each other on the latest gossip. While Caroline and Wheatley were talking about how dreadful Susanne looked in her new dress, she was still thinking about him hugging her.

_Oh my _god_. He _hugged _me. And he didn't even make anything of it! Does he usually just walk around and hug people? Sometimes he can be such a _lunatic_!_

A few minutes later, Caroline poked her. "Gladys? It's starting. You should go sit by Wheatley now."

Gladys snapped back to attention, and headed towards the small table in their section. The room was split into forty circular tables, each with eight seats. Some of the tables were moved away from the front of the room, so a long, rectangular table could be placed there. That was the table that housed the ribbons and the papers that helped organize who got what. It was a miracle that they could fit most of the Aperture employees in one place.

At Aperture, Awards Day was taken very seriously. Not only was it a celebration of people working hard, which Cave Johnson greatly appreciated. It was also a show of how they could fit so many people in one room. The founder of this particular arrangement claimed that it was science that aided him in creating this 'marvelous, perfect room', but many others claimed that they could have thought of this in their sleep.

Caroline made some sort of wide gesture with her arms, signaling what probably meant for everyone to be quiet. When the chatter finally slowed to a stop, she began talking.

Gladys zoned out after she began to announce the winners of each award. Every time someone was called up, Wheatley had some comment about them, whether it be "I knew they would win. They win every year." or "Wow they won that? I would've never expected." After a while, he began poking her in the side. After she ignored him one too many times, he began jabbing. She quickly whipped her head around, and glared at him. The look on his face could only be described as true terror.

"Um, you've got to go up there, I think." He received a confused look from her. "You got an award, luv!" After taking two seconds to process this new information, she looked at Caroline and realized that she truly was called up there. Gladys instantly stood up, and headed towards the front of the room.

When she made it to Caroline, she grabbed her ribbon, and stood still for the mandatory clapping. Cave says it builds self esteem. Everyone in the room clapped slowly and drawn out, while a very enthusiastic Wheatley clapped as hard and fast as he possibly could. Gladys leaned towards Caroline and whispered.

"What did I win? I don't remember seeing my name on the list."

Caroline smiled. "You won the hard worker ribbon. I hid it from you. I'm not allowed to tell anyone what they win."

She quickly strode back over towards the table, and sat down next to Wheatley.

"You did good, mate! I'm glad that people voted for you. At least some people here admitted that they are lazy. That could possibly include me. That's prob'ly why I didn't win anything. I'm pretty lazy, i'd say."

"No. You won stuff."

"How would you know that?"

"I helped Caroline finish her list, Wheatley. Of course I would know."

"Yeah but, you didn't seem to notice your own name on there, now did you?" Gladys grunted a bit.

"I'm just saying, Wheatley, I may or may not have noticed someone on the list whose name was spelled the exact way yours is."

As if she was waiting for Gladys to tell him, Caroline called up Wheatley to receive his prize, which happened to be "Most British". He probably didn't remember that Caroline was in charge of the categories that went up and that everyone has to vote, but he seemed very pleased. But there was one more thing he didn't realize. The sticker.

Caroline noticed it, and so did Gladys, but they were both too late. He didn't seem to notice that everyone was laughing and clapping over the sticker, not of being proud of him. There was nothing that they could do to help him. He was stuck to be humiliated with no help, and he wasn't even aware of the situation.

As he walked back to the table, he noticed the look of concern on Gladys' face. He shot her a questioning look, and she pointed to her forehead. After carefully inspecting her forehead from afar, he realized what she meant. He quickly ripped off the sticker and sat down as quick as he could.

Wheatley smiled nervously, and Gladys just nudged him. She had no idea what to do. She had never had to help anyone with emotions, and now that the opportunity to practice arose, she could find no shred of common sense to help her in this situation. She just sat there, hoping her vibes of sympathy would go to him. _I wouldn't know,_ Gladys thought, _I usually don't have sympathy for anyone. And now the fact that most of humanity sickens me is coming back to bite me._

Once the ceremony was over, everyone was welcome to leave work early. In Aperture, the Awards ceremony was a big deal, and was almost like a holiday. Through the buzzing and swirling of the crowd, Caroline made her way over to Wheatley and Gladys.

"Hey! You both got ribbons! How exciting!"

"Yes, all thanks to your scheming." Caroline batted her lashes innocently.

"Why, whatever would you mean by that?" She smiled sweetly. "Anyways, we get to go home! Me included. Thank god I get a break. But now I don't have anything to do. You'd think that after doing so much work for a month that I'd want to go home and take a nap, but now I just don't know what to do with myself."

"Well maybe…" Wheatley chimed in. "We could go out? I mean like when a group of friends all go out and have fun! How about that?" Of course Caroline and Wheatley were up to the idea, so they both looked at Gladys.

_Oh god, they look like puppies. I can't say no._

"I guess it sounds fun. What are we going to do though?" Both Caroline and Wheatley cheered.

"Wait, that's a good question." Wheatley chimed in after the small celebration was over. "Uh, what should we do? I mean, we can't just go to a random place, now can we? We've got to have proper planning, yeah?" The whole group suddenly became stumped. No one knew what to do.

"What are we supposed to do in this sort of situation? Visit each other's houses? Go to a restaurant? Trade blouses? I haven't done this before. Honestly, do you really expect me to know where to go?"

"We could go to an arcade, right? Y'know, where you play games and stuff. I heard that they're bundles of fun!" The two stared at Wheatley.

"Honestly, Wheatley, why would you get the idea of-"

Caroline immediately cut her off. "That sounds great! When should we go?"

The group planned for a little while, while everyone else filed out of the room, and until no one was there but them. Finally, them came to the decision that Wheatley would pick all of them up, so they gave him a paper with their addresses on it, so he'd know where to go. It was agreed that they'd be picked up around 5:00 They all waved goodbye, and went on their way to get ready.

None of them really had to prepare much, except change from their work clothes. Gladys wasn't very sure what to wear, since she hasn't ever done this before. She just threw on a skirt, sweater, and a scarf, since it was mid September.

She sat in her car in the driver's seat, and waited until Wheatley came to pick her up. She slowly drifted into her own thoughts.

_I wonder why they're taking the time to make me happy. Of course, it probably get some sort of joy in one form or another, but i'm completely baffled. Why would they want to go anywhere with me? After all this time, I still can't imagine why anyone would want to talk to me. Why do they care?_

Soon, she saw light illuminate her car, and stepped outside. Wheatley stuck his head out the window, and waved.

"Hey! Gladys! How's it going?" Wheatley screamed as he pulled up behind her car.

Gladys feared that someone might hear him screaming bloody murder, and shushed him. She headed towards his car, and got into the passenger seat. She realized that Caroline was not in the car.

"So, you live in an apartment?"

"No. I just decided that I was going to walk over to an apartment complex and sit in someone's car."

"I was just asking a question, silly." He poked her firmly in the nose, and began talking. Today was the day she learned that when he starts talking, he never stops. She had never noticed it before, since he would only talk this much to Caroline. But now that i was just the two of them, everything he was talking about was directed towards her._  
_

"So, how do you like my clothes? I think I look sharp, if I may say so myself. You look nice in those clothes too, you know that? I've never seen you not all dressed up before. Not that I would have, considering that I always see you at work. Because we both work at the same place. Coworkers, yes, that's the word! Was on the tip of my tongue, it was. Oh! We're at Caroline's. Didn't realize you two lived so close. Let's go up to her door together, yeah?"

Gladys nodded, and got out the the car, following Wheatley to Caroline's door. She looked at the large house before her, and realized how valuable the job of being the CEO's favorite secretary is. To her, though, it almost wasn't worth it. For all of the work Caroline does, and the small amount of sleep she gets, Gladys probably wouldn't do that much work for any amount of money.

They approached the door of the house together, and rung the doorbell. They heard the cheery voice of Caroline say something that could not quite be made out, but probably meant she was coming. After a few seconds, this was confirmed when she showed up at the door with a smile on her face.

"Hey! Are you guys ready to go?"

Wheatley cheered, while Gladys just tried to look excited. She failed.

The three of them got into the car, and began to drive towards where Wheatley said an arcade was. He said that he'd heard all the "cool kids" go there. Caroline had insisted that she sit in the back, so Gladys could sit in the passenger seat.

Wheatley turned on the radio, and Caroline and Wheatley soon were very loudly singing the words to the songs that came on, causing Gladys to crack a small smile. To her, there was very few things that were more entertaining than seeing them sing off tune and off beat to a song, like their lives depended on it. Most of the time, once the song was over, they would be out of breath and exhausted, but get a sudden burst of energy once the next song would start.

As if no time had passed at all, they were suddenly at the arcade. Wheatley pulled into a parking space, and pulled a large sack of quarters from the glove compartment, and got out of the car. The other two quickly followed, and they all walked towards the arcade.

Gladys could feel inexplicable excitement rising in her stomach. She had never gotten to go out anywhere much as a kid, and definitely not to an arcade.

Wheatley walked into the door, and everyone looked in their direction. Suddenly, the kids swarmed them, both with bodies and with questions.

"Wheatley!"

"Who is your girlfriend?"

"I wanna see you beat your high scores!"

The sudden ambush did not seem to faze him at all, but Gladys pinked at the nose a bit at the second question. Very tall 6'7" Wheatley look gigantic compared to the kids who were there.

"Wheatley?" Gladys started, nudging his arm to get his attention. "Do you… come here often?" He smiled down at her with a big, toothy grin.

"Yeah, actually. They love me. Can't get enough. Alright guys!" Wheatley yelled, turning to the group. "Off to play Pac Man!" Every kid in the arcade cheered. Gladys stood right next to each other, shocked, before the scurried towards Wheatley and the others.

"Alright guys, i'm totally going to beat the high score. You just wait, you bunch. Prepare to be amazed." He plopped his bag down on the board with the controls, and popped a quarter into the slot. Gladys couldn't tell what he was doing, but he seemed good at it. His fingers flew, pressing buttons, and wildly moving the joystick. When he finished a level, he would do an odd little dance, and most of the kids would join in with him, only for him to hurriedly continue playing.

To Gladys, it looked like some sort of cult.

After a while, he finally lost all of his lives, and a collective sigh of disappointment could be heard. Gladys firmly poked him on the side, which easily made him pay attention to her.

"I don't know what this is, or how you play, but i'd like a try. I'll probably beat you though. Prepare to be ashamed at your own inadequacy."

"I don't know, I'm doing pretty good today. I don't think Pac Man is ready for you anyways, luv." A sudden disagreement could be heard throughout the crowd. One kid could be heard distinctly:

"Come on, let your girlfriend play!" All of the kids nodded like it was some sort of religion and that particular kid was a preacher.

"I am _not_ his girlfriend!" Gladys shouted, but it was too late. The kids had already determined it, and Wheatley was laughing to hard to notice the death glare she was sending him.

"You're blushing!" Wheatley said in between giggles, while pointing at her.

"I am not!" Of course, his comment only made her face even hotter. She pushed him by the shoulder and took the controls. She had been observing long enough to know what the controls even were, and had a vague idea of what she had to do.

She put a quarter in the slot, and started the game. At first, she was a bit confused, but after only one death she was flying. Nobody said a word as they watched an adult who had never played Pac Man in their life doing just as good as Wheatley. Not to mention this particular adult was a _woman_.

Soon, she was right up to where Wheatley previously was. Then she surpassed it. She played on and on until, when she finally lost all of her lives, she was number one on the scoreboard. The whole room went into an uproar.

"Wheatley? What do I do? I mean about the score screen. Am I supposed to do something?" Wheatley laughed a bit, then took the controls again.

"Here, luv, you've got to put your initials here. I'll put 'GYS'. It sort of looks like Gladys a bit, don't you think?" She just nodded.

"I told you I would beat you." She smiled a little bit, and leaned on the arcade machine. "You thought I was lying, didn't you? And I, a girl, beat you."

After Wheatley stopped around and showed off his other favorites, Caroline and Gladys just chatted for a while. Gladys was finally having pure, unrestricted fun for the first time in many years. And she was happy.

Finally, the night ended three hours later, when everyone was dropped off at their house, and Wheatley headed back home. Gladys just sat on her couch, thinking about how much fun she had.

_That was the most fun I've ever had in one night. And it was amazing. I didn't think I would ever have great friends. And now I do. And it feels amazing._

That night, she fell asleep smiling.

**AUTHORS NOTE  
Yay! Happy Gladys! Yes I realize that I'm a bit late on publishing this chapter too. Sorry ;-; BUT, I did make this chapter longer than any of the other ones, so there's that.**

**Yes, I imagine Wheatley being like the gang leader of a bunch of kids. Once I imagined the idea, it was to amusing to pass up. And, yes, I did get the idea that he was 6'7" from Stephen Merchant. I will never get over the fact that he is 6'7". Never.**

**Caroline (much like me) ships WheatDOS. She just doesn't show it often. I think that her house would be pretty nice (not a mansion) because she is very highly respected by Cave. I mean, seriously, there's a painting of the two of them together. He must like her to a certain extent for that to happen.**

**Happy Gladys! She's still pushing her thoughts and feelings back, because she doesn't quite know how to face them, or what they even mean. She is, however, figuring out that Caroline and Wheatley aren't aiming to hurt her, and just want to be friends with her. She doesn't quite understand that yet, though.**

**Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this chapter, and a review would be greatly appreciated! Sorry for the long wait. Have a nice day!  
**


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